Ghost In The Machines
by JustCallMeDisc0rd3r
Summary: Cyrus just can't figure out what's haunting him. Nightly he travels into the Digiverse as he has for so many years of his life only to find a new and frightening entity now residing there. Who is she? Where did she come from? And what lies ahead in Cyrus's potential studies of her...? Rated horror for slight creep. PROPERLY UPDATED! :D Reviews plz?
1. Prologue

Cyrus

My eyes open wide, and I struggle to sit up.

I am afraid.

_Who is that woman? _I ask myself, still feeling the residual effects if terror as I fight to get away from the floating yet motionless woman in my dreams.

_Very few can enter the Digiverse as I can... _I think, panicking. "So..." I breathe. "Is she a virus? Or an entity of my own machinations..."

I finally am upright, and I take my glasses from the bedside table and place them on my face, then lifting myself off of the bed only to fall to the ground, as my legs do not support me.

"Oh!" I cry, catching my fall with the palms of my hands. I take a deep breath, looking at the soft carpet below me.

"You can only walk in your dreams, Cyrus..."

P.I.X.A.L. comes to my aid moments later, she must've heard my cry.

"Father, are you okay?" She asks, lifting me up and acting as my crutch, setting me back on the edge of my bed.

I blush. "Yes I am quite alright." I adjust my glasses slightly on my nose, for they had teetered to one side. "And you needed not come get me. I could have lifted myself back up to my mattress."

P.I.X.A.L. gave me a concerned look, clutching one of my hands in both of hers. "I know you are capable, it is only that you have done this many times and I am worried."

I chuckle slightly. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm fine. I'm just having an odd nightmare is all..."

"What is it?"

I shrug. "Well...there is this woman that follows me...she does not move, she just somewhat floats above the ground, she calls to me, asks me to come back. She is always there in the Digiverse with me when I sleep and I am afraid of her intentions if I follow her instruction..."

P.I.X.A.L. touches my shoulder comfortingly. "Do you want me to see if I can find her code?" She asked.

"No no...not now anyway. When I intend to go study her up close I will inform you, and you may monitor me in case I am in danger."

She sighed. "Are you sure you will be okay?"

I nod, taking a bottle of dream suppressant pills off of the bedside table. "I will be fine." I say with a laugh. "Right after I take a couple of these..."


	2. Chapter 1

Is this what the afterlife is?

Because if so this is much much worse than I imagined.

I...

I know I'm dead...

But I don't know why, or how, or when.

And I don't know what my name is.

Or who I am even.

I try to move my arms to rub my eyes but I cannot, I try to look down to see if I am bound but I cannot.

I can only look forward. I can't even turn my head.

I call out hello, but I know my mouth does not move.

_Is this hell? _I think. _I don't think I was this bad..._

I wanted to look around me, I felt my body move clockwise so that I could do so but my legs did not move, it was as if I was suspended from a string.

The world I was trapped in had obvious structure, but as I took a closer look I realized that it was all created from little ones and zeros.

Binary code?

That couldn't be right, I was dead...

But...

I couldn't look at myself so I could not see how I looked.

Am I digital?

This doesn't make any sense...

Wait...

Strange images began to pop into my head, there was a woman with dark brown hair...she was walking though a city.

Above her she looked, mortified because there was a large beast, and in the beasts grasp was a man dressed in white.

They started to glow, and terrified she began to run, but the blast came sooner than she expected and she was enveloped in the output of the explosion.

A tear rolled down my check but I could not wipe it away.

That was me...

It had to be...

That explosion must have killed me.

But that still didn't explain why I was here in this strange digital realm.

Sad, lonely, I began to float through the world of numbers, trying to find someone...anyone other than myself...

Because I couldn't be the only one here...

Right?


	3. Chapter 2

Cyrus

My god some people were rude...

I mean...

Naturally a product isn't always going to work perfectly, that is why the warranty exists.

I received a call today from a very angry man saying that the laptop he purchased was malfunctioning and I offered to replace it for him despite the warranty he didn't purchase.

I always try and solve a conflict peacefully.

But he was just so rude and angry...

I wondered how anyone could ever be like that...

I wheeled back away from my desk, placing the phone back on the dock and lifting my glasses slightly so I could pinch my nose in that spot where the little plastic protrusions sat.

"Mr. Borg." Said P.I.X.A.L. from over her transmitter, trying hard not to call me father, I could hear. "Elena Julien is here. I'm sending her up."

I smiled. "Thank you."

Elena was an absolute joy to work with.

Originally she had been working with Alice at her dance studio, but then she felt that dancing wasn't her things as much as it was Alice's, and decided to use her Julien brand of genius to work for me.

She was so sweet and quiet and she never had a complaint.

And she was very very intelligent as well, an excellent holder of smart conversation.

She knocked on my office door despite the glass and I gestured her in.

"Hello Mr. Borg." She greeted quietly.

I scoffed, rolling over to her. "Oh don't be such a stranger, we are like family." I spread my arms out. "Why not hug me instead?"

She smiled sweetly, shrugging a little and blushing, then leaning down and giving me a quick squeeze. "Only because I know you won't do what Dareth does..." She says.

I laugh, I know about Dareth and his mildly lecherous nature. He flirted with almost every woman he saw, but only respectfully now...since he and Elena were engaged for marriage.

"So what are we going to be doing today?"

I sighed. "Oh, well I've decided to hire KizuKeru...she doesn't have too much education because of...how she has been raised but she needs work and I am open to be charitable where it is deserved."

She smiled at me. "I think that would be nice of you. I could train her in a few basic things...at least mechanical repair if you'd like? That way it's helpful to you and our favorite Nindroids if need be."

She was referring to Chīsai, P.I.X.A.L., and Zane, Chīsai was actually one of the only surviving Mindroids after the initial destruction of the Overlord virus.

He was severely damaged before Elena and P.I.X.A.L. got hold on him, and then Zane...Zane was just a handful of confusion...

Or a better word would be contradicting.

He was human and his support system was mechanical.

And it was very hard to repair him without having some sort of technical issue.

And I could fix P.I.X.A.L. myself if the need arose.

But...

"Yes that would be a good option for us. But she is very shy and...I don't want to put her with all those repair men, she will be uncomfortable." I say aloud.

Elena nodded. "You're right..." She agreed. "Maybe she could do file work? Until she feels better about communication?"

I nodded back to her, adjusting my glasses. "Yes, let's do that for now? Perhaps you could go and call her for me? I have something to do really quick."

"Sure. I'll do that."

"Thank you."

She was gone in a few seconds and the pleasant aura she carried about disappeared with her presence.

I wheeled back to my computer desk, opening a program and doing a search.

There was an option to view the Digiverse from on the screen and up popped the entire thing like a topographic map.

Towards one corner there was a little blip labeled , and it was moving around aimlessly.

"What are you...?" I asked it, curious." "Are you the strange woman in my nightmares? Are you going to harm my friends like the Overlord did?"

There was one factor about this blip that I found odd.

You would think that there would be many different entities in the Digiverse and yet it was all alone.

Probably trying to connect to another blip.

The little blinking dot's theoretical loneliness was certainly something I could relate to.

I closed the program, leaning back in my wheelchair and pinching my eyes again.

Even with my friends and my employees I still felt empty inside.

I felt like half a man.

No pun intended.

I wondered yet again about the intentions of the little blip in my nightmares...


	4. Chapter 3

This place was like a city.

But it was empty like a ghost town.

It was very frightening how I could not respond to stimuli around me as I desired.

I wondered to myself if this was how a mannequin felt.

You can see and hear what is around you but if someone kicks you you can't even open your mouth to say: "Ouch."

And it was so bitterly lonely...I was the only one in this entire place it seemed.

A mannequin floating amongst the zeros and ones.

The place was beautiful, it had a sort of ambience, a pulse to it...

But that was worthless if it was like a kingdom of isolation.

Tears in my eyes and not able to wipe them away, I floated through the emptiness, trying to find something...anything...anyone...

Or waiting to finally leave this hell for a better afterlife.

But I was damned, I knew it in my heart.

I was here for a reason...

Suddenly I stopped, there was a strange pattern of code before me, and it had an odd shape, almost like...

Another person.

I started toward it slowly. "Hello?" I called timidly.

The code seemed to back away just before I could get a solid outline.

"Wait!" I called. "Please don't go."

I must have looked terrifying, speaking without moving my lips, advancing without moving my limbs...

The code turned and rushed away, and I still tried to follow, I wanted it to stay.

I wanted the company so bad.

I was crying again because it just kept getting further and further away.

"Wait..." I whispered, finally giving up the chase. "Please don't leave me alone..."

"Come back..."

"Please..."


	5. Chapter 4

Cyrus

I woke up gasping for air.

But I still felt as though I was dreaming.

She's after me again.

She was tall and thin with long brown hair and pale skin and I can't see her eyes because they are always cast down to the floor.

My god she is terrifying.

"Wait...come back...please..."

_Come back..._

"You are awake." I tell myself calmly, trying not to fling myself from my bed this time in a desperate attempt to run away from whatever that think was.

I grabbed my glasses, putting them kn and trying to sit up, only to realize I was pinned down, looking to my side I see KizuKeru curled up there, she is looking back at me with wide eyes.

I smiled. "What are you doing, hon?" I asked her, shifting slightly so I could see her better.

"I was having bad dreams too..." She replied softly, looking down in guilt. "I thought maybe if we were together it wouldn't be so bad..."

I reach down and pet her curly hair. "Can't Mindroid comfort you?" I queried.

She shook her head. "He's charging, I can't turn him on until he's done..."

I nodded slightly, remembering that I'd disconnected him from the wireless *Borg power network so he couldn't be hacked again. "Right. Sorry I forgot."

Kizu giggled, siting upright and poking my nose and causing my glasses to fall forward. "That's okay. You're old so I forgive you."

I furrow my eyebrows at her. "I am not old at all. I'm ten years younger than your father!"

She pouted. "But you look older, especially with the glasses."

I take them off and my vision becomes blurry to an extent; I then place them over her eyes with a laugh.

"Just because I wear glasses does not mean I'm old."

She swats them away carefully, knowing how expensive and fragile they are.

"Stop it you're going to make me as blind as you!" She exclaimed.

I can help but feel happy.

She was starting to come out of her shell, finally.

She was starting to act like a normal teenage girl.

She'd even grown significantly, in mass and a little bit in her height.

I took my glasses back from the bedspread, setting them back down on the dresser, then I reached for Kizu and cup her cheek with one hand. "I'm really proud of you, you know?" I asked. "You're doing really well now that you're away from..."

_My bastard of a brother..._

She shrugged her shoulders slightly, tilting her head to one side. "Thanks...I'm just glad I have people to help me not...you know?"

She twirls a finger around her left ear and mouths the words: "Go nuts."

I chuckled. "Indeed you do." I say. "Indeed you do. Now get back to sleep, love, we have an early day tomorrow."

"At the tower?"

"Yes."

...

"Alright."

She is off like a light in a matter of minutes.

But my wheels just keep on spinning.

X.X.X

_A.N. - This story is under construction. So chapters that you have previously read on this are now obsolete until I re-post them. I am just trying to live up to the horror genre a little more and make the transition from scary digital ghost lady to friendly digital cohost lady. XD_

_And I'm trying not to make it so painfully obvious too even though..._

_Meh..._

_Anyway I apologize and I will try to make everything fine ASAP._


	6. Chapter 5

KizuKeru

The nightmares were pretty bad but I always felt better when someone was there to comfort me.

Only rarely was Chīsai not available to so in that case I would go to Cyrus.

Tonight was not that way.

Chīsai was bustling and active, and when I awoke he was right there waiting by my side.

"Your PTSD?" He asked.

Pitifully, I nodded, reaching out and hugging his chest.

He rubbed my back gently. "Do not worry. If it makes you feel better, I cannot get the images deleted from my memory...that poor boy...those poor people..."

I squeezed him tightly. "It doesn't...it means you feel the way I do..."

He smiled at me, touching my forehead with his mouth. "We will get through it together."

I was starting to return his smile, I was ready to respond to him but suddenly the speakers in the house started screaming.

"LET ME OUT!"

"SOMEBODY LET ME OUT!"

"HELP ME PLEASE!"

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

There was some sort of static an interference playing along with the woman's voice and it terrified me genuinely.

I gripped Chīsai tightly. "What is it?"

He shook his head. "I-I...I...don't..."

I looked at him. "Uncle Cyrus!"

I leapt from the bed and ran through the many halls of the floor we lived on until I found Cyrus's room.

I burst in; he was on his hands on the floor, trying to balance on his very weak knees to crawl to a more quiet space."

"Uncle!" I cried, rushing to his side and lifting him up.

He stared up at me, breathing hard and fast. His glasses were astray and his eyes were wild with sheer terror.

"PLEASE SOMEBODY LET ME OUUUUUUUUUUUT!"

She shrieking voice seemed to make the whole building vibrate, and the audible sentences faded into nothing but sobbing and loud screams of bitter agony.

Finally, after a few minutes, in the middle of one long shriek...

The speakers blew out in a shower of sparks.

Cyrus was shaking terribly, making terrified noises of no particular category.

I hugged him close and he hugged me back.

He released a shuddery breath. "Every time I go to sleep she's there and she follows me when I wake up..." He whispered.

"Who?" I asked, looking down and attempting to view his hidden face. "You know who it is?"

With a shaking arm he pointed to the small PC sitting on a nearby desk.

"There...there's a woman in the Digiverse...she's haunting my machines..."


	7. Chapter 6

_Please..._

I plead, softly now.

_Please just get me out of here..._

I cannot move.

I cannot sleep.

I cannot eat.

I am merely existing.

As an immobile worthless being in a vacuum of complete bitter loneliness.

And no one will hear or can't hear my desperate cries for help.

How long has it been?

Days?

Weeks?

Months even?

It feels as though eons have passed.

I'm losing my mind and I just wish I could move so I could at least kill myself and at least suffer in hell where I can feel and move and react to what is around me.

Maybe...

Maybe this is hell?

I've probably thought this many times but it is so torturous and maddening and after being here so long I realized...

I must've been a horrible person in my real life.

I don't remember a damn thing but I am not religious...

_Or am I?_

I had to have not been to be stuck in an awful place like this.

I lower myself down and actually manage to lower myself far enough to where I have my legs curled beneath me, and I am leaning against a wall next to some strange looking speaker-like thing.

"Please..." I continue to plead.

"I just want to get out..."

_I just want to be able to move._

_I want to be heard..._

_I don't want to be alone like this anymore..._

_I..._

_I just want to die if I have to continue this way..._

_Someone..._

_Please..._

_Help..._

_Me..._


	8. Chapter 7

P.I.X.A.L.

I was worried for my father.

That woman wouldn't leave him alone and it was starting to make me angry.

I saw the little program running in the Digiverse.

Why wouldn't she just go away.

It was late at night and I was awoken again by Cyrus falling from his bed.

But after that there was no noise.

I went to check and he had merely turned and fell to the floor as he slept. He was not hurt, so I just lifted him back up and tucked him in.

In the corner I saw his laptop was on, sleeping as he was.

I unfroze the screen saw that he had the Digiverse in full view.

He was labeled , and nearby to him was , it was following him in quick succession...

I clicked on the rotten little virus. How dare it harass my father in HIS dream world?

I moved to click the delete button...

X.X.X

Cyrus

She was after me again.

I don't know what she wants.

She keeps begging me to stay with her but I am afraid...

Will she hurt me?

What is she going to do?

Hack me?

But she isn't moving...

"Don't leave me alone." She begs. "Please come back."

But she isn't moving her lips and she reminds me a lot of the Ju-On cursed woman from that Japanese film...

Suddenly she stops, and she starts to glitch violently.

"Oh god...oh god no please..."

I know what is happening, she is going to be deleted, I've seen this before and I didn't want her to go through with it.

...

"P.I.X.A.L. stop!" I shout, waking from my dream and sitting upright in my bed.

She looked at me, frowning. "She was harassing you father..."

I retrieved my glasses and balanced them on my nose. "She was not hurting me...actually I am starting to doubt that she wants to hurt me at all."

P.I.X.A.L. looked back to the screen. "But...she."

"You're hurting her P.I.X.A.L. get off of that task list."

Reluctantly she clicked off of , and the blip that represented her stopped fizzling in and out of view.

I took a deep breath. "I want to learn more about her...she is frightening yes but she may not be what she seems...though...I am afraid you will make a crass decision if I leave you to monitor my waking world."

She bowed her head, ashamed. "I am sorry...I just...don't like her..."

I smiled, gesturing her over to me and embracing her tightly. "I understand. But I will go back to sleep and eventually I am going to confront her...will she be safe if I let you lay here with me when that time comes?"

P.I.X.A.L. nods. "I will not act unless I see danger. I promise."

"Good girl."


	9. Chapter 8

Cyrus

My sleep had been wonderful for the past few weeks.

Since the speakers blew there was no interference. No noise, only silence. And the anti-dream prescription was working quite well.

I still had yet to figure out what the woman in my dreams was.

Though it was apparent due to...

P.I.X.A.L.'s spontaneous outburst...that she and were positively correlated, as in they were a single entity.

I was still ultimately terrified.

She was scary; she never moved or lifted her head or even looked directly at me.

She just...hovered around looking like a woman hung from a noose.

Terrifying.

But I needed the speakers for work, sadly, and I knew I would have to get them replaced soon or productivity in my business was sure to end.

I had new ones installed, and they were relatively quiet.

But one night they woke me from my slumber, a soft discharge of static could me heard by my sleeping hears and when I awoke to study the interference I realized that it was a voice, the voice from before, speaking very softly, weeping, and barely audible above the white noise.

"Please..." She whispered.

"Somebody talk to me..."

I sat up, staring at the speaker in the corner of the room.

"Please somebody...I don't want to be alone anymore..."

"I need help..."

I reached for my glasses, placing them accordingly and shifting myself into the wheelchair I now kept handy by my bed and rolling over to the PC to boot it.

Blank was no longer mobile.

She was settled in one place near the far edge of the Digiverse; her blip was very weak in luminescence.

"I'm going insane..." Said the voice over the speaker. "There isn't anyone here...I can't move, I can't do anything..."

"If no one can help me then just kill me so I don't have to live in this awful fucking place..."

I searched through the drawers of my desk, looking for a microphone so I might try to communicate with this spirit.

I hook it up to the appropriate jack and try to adjust the settings.

"I can hear you..." I said in a determined voice. "I can hear you but can you hear me...?"

X.X.X

I was getting static from the odd speaker on the wall.

Some sort of interference or something.

It was frightening, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I stared at the speaker which was vibrating to the pulse of white noise.

_"I...I..."_

_No..._

_It can't be..._

_"I can hear you..."_

_Oh my god._

_"I can hear you but can you hear me...?"_

"Oh my god..." I whispered. "Oh my god I can hear you too." I stated, starting to cry. "I can hear you please help me."

Static.

_"I'm afraid help will have to wait." _The voice said, somewhat sternly. _"You are still a strange program on my system and I do not want to approach you unless I am sure you do not intend me harm..."_

I was elated, finally someone else to talk to.

"It's okay." I say. "I must look like a floating horror show...I can't even emote."

The voice chuckled. _"It it quite horrifying to see something like that move toward you. But you seem nice enough. This is a mere precaution."_

I was about to reply, but I heard some background noise; was that a door?

_"Father?" _Said a new voice. _"Father why are you up so late?"_


	10. Chapter 9

"Who are you?"

"I don't know..."

"What are you?"

"I don't know..."

"Why do you keep following me?"

The tears in my eyes just never seemed to go away...even though I finally had interaction I was being interrogated like a criminal.

"I...I'm so alone...there is no one here...you are the only one I've seen in weeks...months...however long I've been in here..."

Whatever this mass was standing before me finally let me close enough to hold a conversation with him.

His name was Cyrus and he was actually very nice, I wished I was getting a clearer image so I could see his face and not just a pixelated mass of ones and zeros.

"Where am I?" I finally asked, almost afraid to find out.

The mass of code shifted. "You...are in the Digiverse...the digital version of reality, to put it simply. But what my question to you is how did you get here?"

I sniffled a little, probably looking very odd as my face did not move in the slightest. "I...I died...this man in white...and this big thing exploded and killed us both..."

"The Overlord..." The man breathed, lifting what looked like an arm to adjust something toward the top his form. "...I am sorry to hear that...I...will try to fix you in due time, but right now I have to wake up for work..."

I float a little bit forwards. "Wait, please don't leave me alone in here. It's torture please..."

He walks to me, and he moves me, taking both of my hands in what appears to be his.

"Do not worry. I will not be gone forever. And while I am awake I shall try to see why you cannot move...and perhaps why you cannot remember as well."

I want to smile but I know I can't, though it is blissful to have my limbs moved from my side. "Thank you." I say.

He released me, my arms falling back limp to my sides, and within seconds he was gone.

And all was silent once again.


	11. Chapter 10

Cyrus

So according to her date created she is about five months old...

And according to her accounts she has been slowly going mad, rotting to nothing from lack of interaction within the sparkly-clean Digiverse.

When I would click on her file and try to edit it to see if I could make her able to move or try to de-encrypt her memory she would glitch horribly and her speech to me would become very distorted and hard to understand.

We would communicate back and forth via the speaker/microphone system we had discovered by accident, and every so often I would use the system to ask her if she could move or remember anything, particularly after I would do some file editing...

Every time she would say no up until today when her blip on the screen glitched violently and she exclaimed loudly through my computer's speaker.

"Yes! Yes thank you Jesus!"

I laughed. "You can call me Cyrus, ma'am." I joked.

"Right." She said, as if remembering something. "You can hear me...but can you see this? I can move! I actually feel somewhat human now."

"I'm glad it finally worked." I stated.

"I was about to go fucking crazy..." After a few moments I hear her make a noise of no discernible category.

"Oh...hell...looks like I'm gonna have to teach myself to walk again Cyrus..." She says with a laugh. "My legs are acting stupid."

Ouch...

Right in the heart.

She can move but she can't walk...

That...

That sucks!

"Well..." I began, humming a little in contemplation.

I could walk in my dreams...

So...

"Maybe I could teach you how? If you would not mind..."


End file.
